


The River Lethe

by godaime_obito



Series: Kakaobi event 2019 [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Amnesia, Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Good Uchiha Obito, KakaObi Week 2019, M/M, Memory Loss, obito is oblivious but whats new, somehow ends up fluffy, this is sort of an
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 01:05:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17653085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godaime_obito/pseuds/godaime_obito
Summary: Kakaobi week day 3: ANBUIt’s been raining for a full week and Kakashi’s been traveling along the edges of Ame for for nearly as long as that. Honestly, he just wants to get back to the Land of Fire and forget this mission even happened.





	The River Lethe

**Author's Note:**

> this got a bit off track from the anbu prompt but theres some anbu in it so good enough

It’s been raining for a full week. He’s been traveling along the edges of Ame for almost that whole time and he’s sick of it. Kakashi just wants to get back to the Land of Fire and forget this mission even happened. These Anbu missions have been really wearing him down lately.

Rin has been trying to get him to leave ANBU practically since Minato-Sensei first had him join. After a decade of it he might finally listen to her. Then at least he won’t have so many missions where he can’t even get out Icha Icha for all the book-ruining rain. Hopefully.

He’s jolted from his musings when he realizes there’s an unidentified group heading towards them. This could add days to the trip. Great. He pulls back and signals for his squad to keep a Catious distance. The approaching group of nin only has three members. They seem like Ame nin. At least their headbands say they are, and this close to the boarder it would make sense. They must be returning from a mission. His squad isn’t in the area for anything to do with Ame, so it’s best that they avoid being noticed and alter their route.

He’s just about to give the signal to do just that when he notices something strange about one of the nin. There’s a patch covering his left eye, not particularly odd by itself, but he also has copious scaring down the right side of his face and when he comes into focus his features look familiar. No left eye, scaring on the right, and those familiar Uchiha-like features.

 No. That’s ridiculous. It can’t be. But... it looks just like what Obito would look like. Kakashi’s spent a lot of tome imaging it, the could’ve beens, would’ve beens, had he survived, and this man is almost exactly as he’s always pictured him. Except not wearing any orange.

Kakashi can’t resist the urge to investigate. He signals for his men to silently move in on the Ame nin. The mission is taking a short information gathering detour but he’s sure Minato-Sensei will understand that he just had to be certain. It would haunt him otherwise.

His squad follows the trio into Ame, and after a few hours of shadowing them Kakashi decides to risk uncovering his Sharingan. He can’t get close enough without risking being seen to hear them, but with it he can read their lips.

The three don’t talk much, mostly communicating in gestures and what must be Ame’s own hand sign system. But they do talk some. So far, he’s been able to glean that they were in Kiri for something big, and that the man who looks like Obito is likely the squad leader.

He's reaching then end of how long and far he can safely trail them for when he sees it. One of the nin refers to the squad leader as Obito. There’s _no way_ that’s a coincidence. He has to find out what’s going on. He instructs the squad to head back to Konoha. He’s going to report back to the hokage and let Minato-sensei know about Obito. They need to pull something together and find out who that Amen in really is. If he’s Obito.

* * *

 

Yahiko greets the squad personally upon their return from their diplomatic mission in Kiri. Obito is glad the headman has time for them, because he has a lot to say. Not only about the mission, but about the way back. They were being trailed part of the way back. He could see something in the distance when he risked checking with his sharingan and he had a strange feeling from the moment they hit the boarder. A bit of strange double vision too, like he was looking at himself from a distance.

When he finally heads home from the debriefing he feels better, but not by much. Yahiko didn’t seem too concerned about the trail and the double vision. He just gave the same old reminder to steer clear of Konoha nin and said that he would have Konan and Nagato look into it. Obito feels a bit like they’re keeping something from him.

He strips his armor and flops onto his bed as soon as he gets back. He’s tired from the travel and he needs to think. What could they be hiding? Who would follow him? What is the issue with Konoha? Some of those questions have more obvious answers. He reflects on the very first memory he can access. He’s in the medical bay of Ame’s main tower. He has a headwound. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan are there. They tell him they rescued him from a man in a cave. He’s an Uchiha, from Konoha, but the man was an ally of some awful man named Danzo. He’s in Konoha, so it isn’t safe to just go back. They think the man in the cave called him Obito.

Obito believed them when he first woke up and he’s settled into to Ame since then, but he wonders. He’s looked into Danzo and he does seem bad, but he can’t find the supposed cave and they won’t elaborate. Obito would like to contact the Uchiha, or an Uchiha, just to see if any of them know anything about him, but the trio insists he shouldn’t. To be honest he doesn’t feel any particular draw to the Uchiha anyway, but he does feel one for Konoha in general. There’s _something_ there he needs to go back for, but that leads into the Konoha issue. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan all hate it. They’ve been happy to elaborate on that. He’s a bit scared at this point to try to sneak around there on his own.

He’s not sure he can put up with living like this much longer. No idea who he really is or where he came from, but too cautious to go check. Obito throws a pillow in frustration and stops off to finally shower the grime of travel off. Maybe in the morning he’ll feel better, or even suddenly remember everything… he can hope, can’t he? Trauma induced amnesia sucks.

* * *

 

“Are you sure?” Minato asks.

“I can’t say I’m 100% sure it was Obito,” Kakashi replies, “but I can say I’m 100% sure I saw an Ame nin that looked like him, was scared and missing an eye like he would be, and was called Obito.”

“Okay,” he sighs, “then you’re sure. I want to look into this, but…”

“ _But_ ,” Kakashi echoes.

“We don’t have the best relationship with Ame right now,” he grimaced, “So there’s no good, simple way to check.”

“Is there ever?”

“Usually, no,” he admits. “If I send a team do you want to be a part of it? It may not be best, considering how close you are to the issue,” Minato warns.

“You know I have to,” Kakashi says, “Besides, you need to send someone who knew him to be sure, and the only other choice for that is Rin. She wouldn’t be any less compromised and you’d have to tell more people to do it.”

“Always so prepared to defend your bad decisions with logic. I might be convinced if I didn’t know how full of it you are,” he snorts, “but if I don’t send you you’ll probably just cause more problems.”

“Harsh,” he complains.

“I’ll send you out with a squad to investigate things, but _only_ ,” he stresses, “after information gathering has been done. I’ll have it looked into, so don’t get impatient.”

“Fine,” Kakashi concedes, “Let me know as soon as you find anything.”

* * *

 

Obito is being followed again. Admittedly it’s been months since he was followed when returning to Ame, but considering this is the first time he’s left the country since then… it’s suspicious. His mokuton can feel them in the nearby trees, otherwise he may not have noticed. They’re good, whoever they are.

He slows his pace as subtly as he can. When the gap between him and his tail narrows he begins to reach out with mokuton. The vines elongate and creep towards them slowly, then when they’re within reach, snap out with great speed. Startled shouts call out as the chakra infused vines restrain the squad and pull them up into the treetops feet first. Obito approaches them carefully. He’s on a solo mission this time, with no backup confronting an entire squad is risky, even if they’re caught in his vines.

One of the men seems particularly familiar. He calls the vines encasing him back down, lowering the man down to him. In one swift movement, he yanks the vines that have wrapped over the lower portion of his face away.

“Who are you and why are you following me?” Obito hisses.

“Do you not remember me?” he asks.

“Remember you? From when you were following me earlier this year?”

“No, from before then. When we were genin. It’s me, Kakashi,” he says. There’s a quite undertone of desperation in his voice, and he’s staring at Obito like he can will him to recall.

“It doesn’t ring any bells, but I don’t particularly remember being a genin at all,” he confesses. “Why, specifically, are you following me?” he adds.

“That _is_ why,” Kakashi says, “because I know you. Because you’ve been missing. Because I thought you were _dead._ Have you been in Ame the whole time?”

“Ummmm,” he hesitates. Obito isn’t sure how to respond to something like this. “Maybe? Supposedly they found me in a cave. No idea how long I was there,” he offers.

The blood is probably rushing to the Konoha nins’ heads pretty badly by now. He shifts the vines so they’re being held upright. Kakashi seems unsettled by the process.

“Are you doing that? How long have you had mokuton?” he asks.

“I don’t know. Had it when I woke up, for all I know I’ve always had it,” Obito says with a shrug.

“You definitely haven’t always had it. What happened to you in that cave?” Kakashi says quietly. He sounds frustrated, angry at something, Obito doesn’t know what though. It doesn’t seem like Kakashi really knows either. “Come back to Konoha, Obito. We could go to places you’ve been, talk to the Yamanaka. You may be able to remember,” he suggests.

“Just go to Konoha? Yeah, right,” Obito snorts. “I’m going to go back to what I was doing and when I’m a certain distance away the vines will drop you, and then you will all go back where you came from _without_ me,” he instructs, “I don’t know you, so scram.”

He turns on his heal and shunshins away. This just gets weirder and weirder. Obito is curious about Kakashi, about Konoha, but… he doesn’t trust it. Logically, he’s an Uchiha, he must be from there. Some Konoha nin must know him. He can’t help but think about how he was found in a cave, with no allies around. Where was Konoha then? Where have they been all this time? Maybe he doesn’t want to confront it because he feels abandoned by them. Left a drift. Part of Ame but not. His mokuton and sharingan, so intrinsically Konoha. What if he goes to Konoha and doesn’t like it? What if they leave him alone somewhere again?

Obito heads straight back to Yahiko’s office when he finishes his mission. It doesn’t require an in person debrief, but he _needs_ to talk to him about Kakashi. He comes in through the window, without waiting to schedule a proper appointment or go through the normal security.

“Yahiko-sama,” he greets cheerfully, “Please explain some things to me.”

“Obito,” Yahiko replies, standing up from his desk, “What is it? I wasn’t expecting you in today.”

“I ran into some Konoha nin, and had an interesting talk with some Kakashi,” he answers, “I think he may even have been the infamous copynin!”

“Is that so,” he prods, “Why? What did he say?”

“Because he’d been following me, and he mainly seemed enthusiastic just to see me. I wonder why?” Obito says with mocking confusion.

“You’re upset. The encounter unsettled you,” Yahiko states the obvious, “Did he claim to know you?”

Obito nods sharply in response. “I know you’re worried about Danzo and that the situation you found me in was strange, but is it really necessary for me not to go to Konoha at all?” he questions with frustration.

Yahiko looks at him with sympathy; resting a hand on his shoulder and squeezes reassuringly. “I understand that you want to remember, but I say this as both your headman and as someone who cares about you: You most likely did know that man. It doesn’t matter. Do not go back to Konoha. It is a pit of vipers,” he insists.

“Okay,” Obito says with another sharp nod, “I understand, It’s just…” He sighs. “Frustrating, I guess.” He leaves the office to write his official report somberly, and far from done thinking about the encounter.

* * *

 

He manages to lay low for exactly one week before he decides to just fuck it. Obito is going to Konoha. Of course, is he’s too obvious about it they’ll probably try to stop him so he needs to be stealthy about it. That is perhaps not his strangest suit. He’s more of an ‘run in really fast, tear stuff apart, book it out of there really fast’ kind of guy. He takes a mission near the edge of the Land of Fire and then detours. By the time they realize he’s late on getting back he should be back where he’s supposed to be, finishing the actual mission.

The gate is much easier to sneak past than he thought the gate to a major village would be. A bit of genjutsu and he’s through with no problem. Obito suddenly realizes he may not have planned this out as much as he should have. Where is he and where is he planning on going? Maybe if he just walks around he’ll find that Kakashi guy? He might stick out. An unfamiliar face with a lot of scars, but it’s a big village with a lot people. If he stays in crowded areas he may still blend in.

Obito catches sight of something familiar in the corner of his eye. Pushing through the crowded dirt street he moves closer to it. A fan symbol on a wall. This must be the edge of the Uchiha compound. It’s familiar, yet not, like there’s something just out of his reach. The same feeling of forgetting the word you were going to use, knowing it’s on the tip of your tongue, that you should know this, but coming up blank.  He considers going it to the compound, wondering in search of where he must have lived in the hopes that will trigger a memory. Not even Obito’s that reckless though, he’d definitely be noticed wandering around in a closed of compound.

He turns abruptly the other way and storms off in frustration. Where is the academy? Surely, he went there if he was a Konoha nin; maybe it will help. Obito moves along with the crowd down the main street. There’s a reman stand that seems familiar. Smell is supposed to be most closely tied to memory. If he used to eat there the smell may jog something and besides, he’s hungry.

Maybe the part about his memory is just an excuse to have ramen. Who could resist a steaming bowl of pork ramen? He should try to remember at the dango shop he passed earlier next. Half way through his bowl he turns left to speak and… there’s no one there? He isn’t sure who he expected to see, but there’s an impression of red in his memory. A woman’s hair, a loud voice, sitting here with him. There’s other people there, but when he tries to focus on any of their faces the memory goes fuzzy. Just out of reach again.

He returns to the walking the street after words. Coming so close and still getting basically nothing is awful and frustrating. This trip hardly seems worth it. Obito’s half-stomping as he passes close to the hospital. A woman with purple marks across her cheeks immerges from the hospital and joins the tide of people.

Obito can’t move. People press around him as he stands in the middle of the street. He _knows_ her. She is far out of sight already but he can still see her in his mind. He remembers… he remembers, something, being a child. The images are vague, but the feelings are clear and she was _there_. She must have been. He’s supposed to be here, in Konoha, isn’t he?

He tenses with a jolt as a hand grabs his shoulder, pulling him from his commiserating. Obito turns his head just enough to look over his shoulder. It looks like he doesn’t need to worry about tracking down Kakashi, because he’s found Obito.

“Kakashi,” he says, “I was actually hoping to talk to you!” He attempts to smile but is certain from the look he’s given that he’s failed.

“Maa,” Kakashi drawls, “That’s good because I’ve been hoping to talk to _you_ a long time.”

“Right,” Obito quips **,** “Why don’t we go somewhere less crowded first? I’d offer my place, but I don’t know where it is and I don’t think I have one anymore either way.”

Kakashi looks forlorn or at least the one eye of his does. “Come on,” he directs, “My place is this way.” He shits his hand from Obito’s shoulder to his back and guides him through the streets. Compared to Ame, with its bad weather and lower population, this place is ridiculously full.

Kakashi apparently lives in an apartment. This doesn’t feel quite right. Obito’s brows scrunch in bewildered consideration. “Did you live in a house, farther away from the main drag?” he wonders.

“A long time ago,” Kakashi says tersely. “Do you remember it?” he adds hopefully.

“Not really,” Obito sighs,’ “It was just a feeling.”

“A feeling is better than nothing. Have you had any other ‘feelings’ while poking around?”

“I was at a ramen stand, Ichiraku’s, and I thought I remembered a redhead? And then at the hospital I saw a woman I definitely knew.”

“You saw Rin?” Kakashi guesses.

“Yeah, but she was so old,” Obito says without thinking, “or it must have been, I didn’t _think_ I remembered her name. She had purple markings on her cheeks.”

“It was her then,” he replies, “and she’s only as old as we are. You just haven’t seen her in years.”

“Of course. Silly me.” They’re just standing in the entrance of Kakashi’s apartment. It’s a bit awkward, but Kakashi doesn’t seem like he plans to move them farther in.

“Since you seem to think you know me so well,” Obito ventures, “then what’s my favorite food?”

“Dango.”

“Lucky guess,” he says flatly. He may as well skip ahead to the important questions. “How about you tell me how I ended up alone in that cave?”

“There’s been a war going on, it likely still was going on when they found you,” he starts, “We were on a sabotage mission, Rin and you and me.” Kakashi halts, weighed down by the memories. “It was supposed to simple albeit classified, but Iwa nin discovered us,” he continues, “Rin was captured and you went after her. I went after you, and in the end your right side was crushes by a cave in helping me. Saving me. We all were sure you were dying. That’s when the eye thing happened.”

Kakashi gestures at his covered eye as he finishes speaking. Obito knows there’s a sharingan there, it is in the bingo book, but he’d never considered where he’d gotten it from. Never connected it to his own missing left eye. There are plenty of Uchiha in Konoha; it could have come from any of them.

“Is that _my_ eye?” he asks, “I gave it to you. I did. I think I remember…” He knows, logically, that a dōjutsu user giving someone an eye must be big, but he also _feels_ it. It’s overwhelming; the memory of dying, of wanting Kakashi to remember him, wanting to still help his team somehow. How good it felt when Kakashi came after him, like he finally cared about Obito, noticed him. “I do. I remember that. I remember Kanabi Bridge,” he chokes out.

There’s a hand on his scarred cheek. “Still a crybaby,” Kakashi accuses lightly, “even after all these years away.” He wipes away Obito’s tears with his hand. He hadn’t realized he’d begun crying till Kakashi touched them.

“Bakashi,” he huffs, but there’s no heat in it. He hasn’t remembered everything, but even just one mission is a start. Is _something_. Maybe coming to Konoha was worth it after all. “The redhead woman, she likes ramen…K…”

“Kushina,” he offers.

“Yes,” Obito brightens, “That’s it! Where is she?”

“Probably with our old sensei, the current hokage,” Kakashi answers, “Minato-sensei and Kushina got married right after the war ended.” They’re probably at home right now.” He pauses, then seems to have a realization. Perking up he continues, “We should go see them. Let the hokage know you’re here and check in with people you knew all at once.”

“The hokage? I don’t know…” Obito wavers. Yahiko - or, well, Konan - will be upset enough with him for doing this much.

* * *

 

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Obito complains. He glares at the door to an unassuming home.

“Just come in,” Kakashi insists, “you won’t regret it, I swear.”

“I owe me for this.”

“Fine,” he concedes, “just _come on_. We’ve been standing here five minutes. They’ve definitely noticed we’re here anyway.”

“Probably,” Obito admits reluctantly. His life has just been a series of one bad poorly thought out decision after another anyway, he might as well just do it. “Let’s go!” He shoves past Kakashi and flings the door open with artificial eagerness.

He barely makes it a meter in before he’s tackled under a sudden ambush. His vision is blocked by red hair going everywhere as they collapse on the floor.

“Kushina!” a man yells, “I told you to take it easy while we reintroduced ourselves.” The hokage hovers in the background worriedly. Despite his reprimand he doesn’t move to pull her back.

“He’s a decade late,” she says, “This is taking it easy.” She jerks her head to glare at Obito in a one-eighty from her enthusiastic greeting. “Where have you been? We had an entire child while you were gone, that’s how long it’s been!”

He glances at Kakashi desperately, hoping for some help. He just continues to stand silently and gives him a one of his eye-crinkling grins. Useless troll. “I got trapped in a cave and waylaid in Ame, and just, lost on the road of life I guess,” Obito says sheepishly. “A child?”

“Naruto,” she replies, “he’s almost eight. Pretty boy may not always be the brightest-”

“Hey!”

“- but he helped make a really cute kid. You’ll love him,” she insists.

“Minato-sensei must be smart about something if he’s hokage,” Obito feels the urge to defend.

“Yeah,” Kushina drawls, “but that stuff is rarely the stuff that matters.”

“Touché. Is Naruto here?”

“Nah,” she says, “he’s over at a friend’s.” Kushina decides to let him go then, standing back up and off of him. Obito pushes himself back up as well, and Minato guides them all into the dining room to sit down. Now that Obito’s paying attention he’s wearing a pink apron. Was he cooking?

“Obito, I am overjoyed to see you well,” Minto assures him. “However, I do have questions about Ame and about your plans. I hope you’ll be returning to Konoha,” he adds.

“Ah,” Obito wavers for a moment, before recalling his realization that his life was already a disaster of bad choices anyway. Maybe if he goes against his instincts he’ll make a good choice for once. “Yeah, I’ll stay.” Sorry Yahiko, Nagato, and scary Konan.

Obito and Kushina hit the ground in a great thump for a second time.

* * *

 

Kakashi and Obito are at the dango shop he’d been eyeing his first day back in Konoha. Apparently, it was his favorite as a kid.

“How is your memory?” Kakashi asks, “Has being in your old house or hanging out with Rin helped any?”

“Some,” Obito sighs, “About as much as hanging out with you.” He nibbles on his dango forlornly.

“I’m sure your first appointment with the Yamanaka this weekend will help,” he offers.

“I hope so,” he replies, “It’s just frustrating.” Obito stabs his second, empty, skewer into the table.

“Let’s not get all damaging-public-property-angsty-”

“You’re one to talk about angst,” he huffs.

“-I promise I’ll help you settle in. Do whatever I can to help your memory. I’m sure you’ll be given some mental exercises or something at your appointment,” Kakashi continues without pausing.

“How sweet. Keep getting gooey on me and I might think these outings you keep taking me on are dates,” Obito says.

Kakashi stares at him blankly. “They are.”

“What.”

“They are dates. Why do you think I keep holding you hand?” he wonders.

“I thought you were trying to keep me from getting lost!” Obito defends. He rapidly starts going red; has he been going on dates with Kakashi all week and was to dense to notice? “Are you fucking with me?” he asks.

“No Obito,” Kakashi sighs, “I am happy you are back. You mean a lot to me. I wanted to take you out. I thought it had been going well. Apparently not, because you hadn’t even noticed.”

“Wait a second,” he says, “Just because I hadn’t noticed yet doesn’t mean it wasn’t going well.”

“Is that so? No need to humor me.”

“I’m not humoring you,” he insists, “I like you.” Kakashi hums disbelievingly. “Do you need convinced this is a date now?” Obito adds. He can do that. He’ll prove it right now.

He yanks Kakashi forward and slips down his mask, smashing their lips together with more force than strictly necessary.

“Maa,” Kakashi says when they finally pull apart, “Well, I suppose I can’t argue with that.” He yanks his mask back up. Despite having it down for what felt like a long time it seems no one looked their way the entire time it was off.

“Wait,” Obito says slowly, “were you baiting me?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You _were_. You just wanted me to kiss you.”

“Certainly not.”

Despite the wide range of dumb and/or risky decisions Obito has made this month, he’s pretty sure getting fooled by a trick like that is the dumbest. He can’t believe he likes this troll. He’s going to be stuck with him forever, isn’t he? What a real welcome back to Konoha.

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like i could have fleshed this out more but it was already longer than intended lol


End file.
